Homo Mysterious
Evolutionary Puzzles of Human Nature
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
For all that science knows about the living world, notes David P. Barash, there are even more things that we don't know, genuine evolutionary mysteries that perplex the best minds in biology. Paradoxically, many of these mysteries are very close to home, involving some of the most personal aspects of being human.
Homo Mysterious examines a number of these evolutionary mysteries, exploring things that we don't yet know about ourselves, laying out the best current hypotheses, and pointing toward insights that scientists are just beginning to glimpse. Why do women experience orgasm? Why do men have a shorter lifespan than women? Why does homosexuality exist? Why does religion exist in virtually every culture? Why do we have a fondness for the arts? Why do we have such large brains? And why does consciousness exist? Readers are plunged into an ocean of unknowns--the blank spots on the human evolutionary map, the terra incognita of our own species--and are introduced to the major hypotheses that currently occupy scientists who are attempting to unravel each puzzle (including some solutions proposed here for the first time). Throughout the book, readers are invited to share the thrill of science at its cutting edge, a place where we know what we don't know, and, moreover, where we know enough to come up with some compelling and seductive explanations.
Homo Mysterious is a guide to creative thought and future explorations, based on the best, most current thinking by evolutionary scientists. It captures the allure of the "not-yet-known" for those interested in stretching their scientific imaginations.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Evolutionary questions about the human condition abound, and Barash, a University of Washington professor of psychology and biology, (Madame Bovary's Ovaries), addresses some of the most provocative in this thoughtful, witty book. Barash focuses on interesting conundrums: why do women have orgasms; why does menopause exist; why do men have shorter average life spans than women; what's the evolutionary reason for homosexuality, the arts, and religion. Yet the book's success lies not in the answers to these questions as Barash explains, we don't (yet) have answers. What he does so well is to demonstrate, first, how evolutionary theory helps shape our thinking on these questions, while guiding us to differentiate between the possible and the implausible. Second, by considering and discarding numerous possible answers to each question (is female orgasm merely the by-product of another evolutionary adaptation? Or did it evolve to induce women to have numerous sexual partners to guarantee reproduction?), he shows how tentative scientific explanations are and the critical role hypothesis testing plays in our understanding of the world. As he has done before, Barash makes the case for the power of science while demonstrating the intellectual joy that can accompany the journey of discovery.
